Lily's Crush
by RodentFace
Summary: Lily has a crush on someone and it seems like the whole school knows except for James Potter and the only two people who are willing to tell him.  Will he ever find out?  And why would Sirius call Lily stupid?


Author's Note: I wrote this because there just aren't enough Lily/James stories out there, are there? This story takes place sometime in their seventh year, a while before Christmas.

Disclaimer: This story is on . Clearly, I am not making any money off it and do not own Harry Potter.

"I know!" a blonde girl said to her brunette friend. "I never would have suspected it either!"

"Maybe you heard wrong," the brunette said, disbelieving, "There's no way that Lily Evans-"

James Potter was not one to care for gossip, but after hearing Lily Evans' (Head-girl, close friend of his, his heart's one true desire) name mentioned, he couldn't help but listen in on what the girls were saying.

"I heard Mary McDonald telling Sirius Black!" the blonde said impressively. "Lily told Mary that she liked him, Sirius walked by, and Mary told Sirius."

"No doubt that Lily was angry with her for that," the brunette laughed.

The blonde nodded. "Lily threatened him if he told anybody….except then Remus Lupin walked by and Sirius immediately told him!" The two girls laughed.

"So, do you think that Sirius will _actually _keep his mouth shut?" the brunette asked.

"Yeah," the blonde nodded, almost sadly.

"Are you sure? You know Sirius. He's the _worst _with secrets!"

"I know, but I already told you, Lily threatened him if he told _anybody!_ I think Lily just doesn't mind Remus knowing because they _are _pretty good friends," the blonde mused.

"She threatened him? With what! He's Sirius Black, after all!" the brunette protested.

"I'd rather not repeat what Lily said," the blonde said solemnly. She and her friend stared at each other seriously, then burst into another fit of giggles. "It's a shame too," she said, wiping a tear from her eye. "I'd _love _to see James Potter's reaction when he finds out about Lily's crush!" The two girls laughed again.

"Oh, that's be rich!" the brunette laughed. "I'd pay good money to see that!"

"Um, excuse me," James couldn't take it anymore. "I couldn't help, but overhearing. Did you just say that Lily has a crush on someone?"

The two girls stared at each other, horrified. "I don't think that we should tell you….." the brunette began.

"It's supposed a secret…." the blonde said. "I'm sorry," she did look truly sorry, but no matter how hard James tried, he just couldn't get either of them to tell him.

"Fine!" he hollered after them as they ran down the hall. "I'll just find out from someone else!"

XXX

"Sirius!" James shouted as he ran over to his best friend. Sirius looked over at him grinning, but his grin faded when he saw how annoyed James looked. "Who does Lily like!" James asked, taking a step toward Sirius.

"How'd you find out about that?" he asked suspiciously.

"I overheard some girls talking about it," he waved an impatient hand. "I just want to know who she likes!"

"Well, I'm afraid that I can't tell you that," Sirius said grinning. He put an arm around James' shoulders and led him around the room, making dramatic gestures as he spoke. "You see, Lily threatened me with some particularly terrible jinxes and hexes should I breath a word of it to anyone and I prefer to remain both, unjinxed and unhexed."

"Didn't we agree that we would never have any secrets from each other!" James snapped.

"Yes, but as you see, this isn't my secret and," he said dramatically, "Lily's much scarier than you." His voice immediately lost its dramatic tone and he grinned.

"You've got to be joking!" James asked.

"Nope!" Sirius grinned. "Besides, it's great revenge for that time you and Mooney went to Hogsmeade when I was in detention and didn't get me anything from Honeydukes!"

James scowled.

XXX

"Remus?" James began innocently.

"No, I will not help you with your Charms homework again," Remus said nonchalantly. He continued to look for a book in the Potions section of the library and he didn't look at James as he spoke.

"That's not what I was going to ask," James blinked a few times. "I had Lily help me with it. She's much better at explaining these things than you are."

"Good, because I'm getting sick of helping you. Now," after finding the book he'd been pursuing, he turned to face James, "what do you need?"

"You wouldn't happen to know who Lily likes, would you?" he smiled.

Remus' face immediately went pale. "How did you….never mind. No, I don't know." He blushed.

"I'm sure you don't," James changed his tone from "innocent" to business-like. "Listen, I'd just like to know the guy's name. I'm not going to tell her that you told me, or anything."

"It doesn't matter. If she didn't tell you, she obviously doesn't want you to know," Remus avoided James' gaze as he sat down at a table and began to read.

"Can you just tell me what house he's in? It's not Snape is it?" he looked revolted at the very thought.

"No, it's not Snape," Remus reassured him as he turned a page of his book. "And he's in Gryffindor. That's all I'm telling you."

XXX

"Mary…"

"No, I'm not telling you who Lily likes," Mary McDonald said curtly.

"I didn't even ask you yet!" he stared at her incredulously.

"I know, but Sirius warned me that you would ask," she shrugged.

"Can you even give me a clue?" he asked hopefully.

"James, if you're so thick that you can't figure it out yourself, I don't think you deserve to know!" she said sharply.

"But…."

"I'm going to go get dinner. Please don't interrogate me all the way from the common room to the Great Hall or I _will _be forced to hex you!" with that, she turned on her heal and was gone.

XXX

"Peter, who does Lily like?" James asked barely touching his supper.

Peter, who'd had his mouth stuffed when James asked him, swallowed, with much difficulty, and said, "I sorry James. I don't know."

James peered at him, over his glasses. Peter was a terrible liar, but he appeared to be telling the truth. "They," Peter pointed to Sirius and Remus who were calmly enjoying their dinner, "won't tell me!"

"Well, of course not!" Sirius half-shouted, but nobody stared as they were all used to Sirius semi-regular outbursts during mealtimes. "We know that you'd tell James!"

James slumped. He stared over at Lily who was laughing with her friends. Lily saw him staring and smiled back, then blushed a little and tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear and continued her conversation with Alice. _Whoever he is_, James thought, _he has no idea how lucky he is._

XXX

"Marlene," James said seriously. Usually, he tried to avoid the school's worst gossip, but desperate times called for desperate measures. "I need to ask you a favor."

"Yes, you want to know who Lily likes," Marlene McKinnon snapped. "I know. I could ask you the same thing!"

"What?" James asked. "You don't know, either?"

"No," she scowled.

"But, you know everything about everybody!" he protested.

"Yes, but apparently, people seem to think that I'm untrustworthy!" she said this as though she couldn't imagine it being true. "Believe me, I'd love to tell you, but I can't." Seeing his face fall, Marlene added, "But, you will be the first to know when I find out."

XXX

No matter where James went or who he asked, he couldn't seem to find out. Everyone seemed to know, but no one seemed to be willing to tell him. James even asked some first years for all it was worth, but even _they _wouldn't tell him! Marlene and Peter still didn't know, the Slytherins didn't care, Alice ran away whenever he saw him, and his "best friends" refused to tell him.

"Whoever he is," Peter said impressively, "he's going to be sorry when James finds out who he is!"

"No, he's not," James said, sadly. "I mean, if he breaks her heart, yeah, he's _really _going to be sorry, but if Lily's happy….what's the point in ruining that?" Peter looked a little confused, but didn't say anything else and Sirius and Remus exchanged a glance.

Just from that one look, James could tell that they were on the verge of telling him, but apparently both had thought better of it because they didn't say anything, nor did they even look at him.

It was time that he was honest with himself. The only way he was going to find out who Lily liked was if he asked her himself.

"Um, Lily?" he asked her one day when she was in the almost-empty common room, reading.

"Yes?" she smiled up at him and put a bookmark in her paper-back novel.

"Who…..who do you like?" His question seemed to take her by surprise.

"Wha..what?"

"Everyone's talking about how you like someone but nobody will tell me and the only people who are willing to tell me don't know an….." Lily cut in.

"Wait, who're the only people who would tell you?" she asked, confused. _Wouldn't Sirius and Remus have told him if he'd asked._

"Peter and Marlene McKinnon," James mumbled. Clearly, he didn't seem to find it important. "So, who is he?"

Lily sat up straighter. "It doesn't really matter."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, I've been dropping hints for a while now and he hasn't noticed and I'm pretty sure that he just likes me as a friend anyway," she shrugged, trying to sound indifferent. "You know, it probably is best that we stay just friends."

"So, you're over him?" James asked.

"Not exactly, but you could say that," she shrugged and went back to reading her book.

XXX

"**YOU TOLD HIM THAT YOU GOT OVER HIM! **I was going to be the best man at your wedding!" Sirius shouted.

"_Keep your voice down_!" Lily hissed. "And yes, what _else _was I supposed to say!"

"I don't know, the truth?" he snapped.

"Oh, yes, because that wouldn't have been an awkward conversation at all! 'Lily, who do you like?' 'Oh, you James! Didn't anyone tell you!'" she crossed her arms. "And how do you think James would have reacted to that?"

"Probably something along the lines of, 'YES! YES, YES, YES, YES, YES! YES!' and then he'd kiss you," Sirius said, his voice changing from that of an overexcited five-year-old to calm, cool, and collected. When he'd been doing an impression of James, he'd been jumping all around the corridor reminding Lily greatly of Alice when she said that Frank had _finally _asked her out.

"I'm sure he would," Lily said sarcastically.

"Why do you find it so hard to believe that he still likes you!" Sirius shook his head.

"Because he doesn't act like he still likes me," she said like it was obvious.

"You know, I always thought that you were the smart one, but now I've realized how incredibly _dumb _you are," Sirius crossed his arms and shook his head.

Lily stared at him. "I have been called many things, but stupid is not one of them. No one has _ever _called me stupid before."

"And you will be called that until you and James start dating," Sirius said with a satisfied smile as though they'd just made a deal in which everyone won.

"Sirius, he doesn't like me that way!"

"Keep telling yourself that, Evans. Keep telling yourself that….actually, don't because then you'll _never _start dating.

Author's Other Note: So, if you didn't like that Lily and James didn't get together at the end, while I'm _not _going to add another chapter, I have already written another story, Snowball Fight, where they do. Just saying. Review? Pretty please?


End file.
